mythicaldude
hoping for the best... [ I'll know it when I see it... ]

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

You may as well change your bookmarks and favorites and if you link to me you should change the link tohttp://mythicaldude.net.

The Mythicaldude Blog's content at this location will remain in place here until late July of 2010, but there will be no new posts made here, or any other content changes at all starting today - January 19, 2010.

All new Mythicaldude Blog posts and other content will be at the new site and new location.

Please visit the new site (still under construction, but fundementally sound (we think).

Thank you for visiting, but you are in the wrong placed as of this moment.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Ahh. Well here it is a week into the new year and things are begining to settle down after all the confounding commotion.

Perhaps I ought to apologize for that last post. It was fun to write, I won't lie to you, but it looks (in retrospect) kind of juvenile and silly. I suppose I get that way from time to time.

My Mom read it and gave me a bit of a hard time... that is to say that it caused her to worry about me. I explained that it was just my sense of humor and that there was no cause for alarm. Mothers are like that, yeah they are. Love you Mom!

The guys at Sharky's liked it. Nobody on Facebook commented, which I interpret to be an inexplicably bad omen, but so what... I'm not superstitious

At any rate I think I want to be a bit more mature, focused and intentional this year, so let's just chalk that last post up to being the last post of last year (a day late and 10,000 riel short) and we'll consider this one to be the first post of the new year and an auspicious harbringer of things to come. Coolio indeedy!

So I've updated and launched my newly redesigned, simpler, more elegant and functional photoblog at www.mythicaldude.net and I hope you'll go check it out. Simple concept: a photo a day... and this time I really mean it.

I've also, yet again, redone my Steve Goodman Photography website at www.stevegoodman.com and while it still needs work (who doesn't?)

I think it has some compelling new features, charming content and a certain glistening shine. Actually it smells like a new car and, as you know, that's a pretty damned good smell.

Of course it'll wear off soon enough and the pile of trash in the backseat will start to become unbearable, but let's not go there now sister...

That might be all I have to say for the moment... just got home from a fun and sweaty Sharky Bar gig and once again the band sounded pretty damned good if I do say so myself.

Shakry's has the best stage and sound system in Phnom Penh, it even has seriously humongous(sp?) stage monitors, so playing there is always a pleasure. In addition to the monitors they have a some huge-ish guitar and bass guitar amps and a snazzy durm kit which Scoddy was all over tonight making things sound extra zesty.

I never really notice drums too much when I listen to most bands, except for when they are really sounding catchy and special, as was the case this evening. Nice and impossible-not-to-notice pithy little accents in all the right places made things sound extra gutsy and in general it felt like the whole improbable Hellhoundsmachine had been lubed, calibrated and polished to a nice snazzy shine. Pretty cool.

Don't tell anyone that our plates are expired, the brakes are squeaky and the steering is a more than bit dodgy.

It feels like I need to find a photo for this post so please hang on just a minute... OK here's one now:

Yes. It is a brick wall somewhere in the alley behind my apartment in Phnom Penh and it symbolizes, in a starkly literal fashion, the brick wall I ran into at the end of last year. Ouch. Fascinating perhaps, but not pretty by any stretch of the imagination.

These things happen and life is full of false starts, slow boats, dead-ends, abrupt cancellations and lots of minor cuts and bruises (even serious contusions from time to time). Its OK. You run into one of these and - unless your are really out-of-it - you'll know that you were going to fast for your own good and heading in the wrong direction (even if it seemed like a good idea at the time).

Hey man, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and head on over the sunny side of the street! And quit moaning... one must take things in stride.

So now it occurs to me that I need one more juxtapositional image to symbolize the high hopes, determined ambition and spiritually uplifting feeling that a new year ought to be greeted with... uh, hang on again for just a second...

Heh-heh-heh... Yes! A big thumbs-up for this one. Again nothing subtle going on here (we cater to a wide and shortly-attention-spanned multi-culti-demographic audience here at MythicalDude-Amalgamated-Industries-InterCorp-LTD, Inc.TM). Things are both operating normally (which is to say somewhat dysfunctionally) and also changing at the same time. This much is abundantly clear, but what the future holds is anybody's guess. As for me I can only say this... Despite the odds I'm still hoping for the best and I think I'll know it when I see it. And that's all she wrote.

Please stay tuned (As mentioned in that garishly lurid last post (below with the test pattern at the end)... and that's where the tuk-tuk soaring by comes in to play in this photo (a photograph with text in it!) ... to really make the picture memorable and add a healthy dose of funk and a not-very-shy dash of indisputably local flavor to the whole ball-of-wax - even though we're all living like The Jetsons here now in 2010, there still aren't any seatbelts (for reasons unknown)... so we're all going have to just deal with it, come what may.

I like this first blog photo of the new year a lot... and I really know what I'm talking about when it comes to stuff like that, so take my word for it.

It's jam-packed with big fat juicy meaning. Obviously it has its own conceited metaphor... today is the well-lit portion of the photo and tomorrow is represented by the blackness of the doorway. And to reinforce that interpretational notion is the solidly unambiguous statement - written in text - that things are being improved and that we can expect something good!

You really can't get much more straightforward than that in the realm of photographical metaphors.

There's somebody in there (which means that there is a there there)... and they're doing something in the backgound (or so they say) while they remain open for business and operating normally (as though!), or so they say right up fron in BIG BOLD LETTERS. There behind the door, there in the inscrutable darkness of the future just beyond today that nobody can see. Something is happening.

Something BIG and BOLD.

Where will it all lead? What's going to happen next? Will we be stopping for a pee-break and a snack?

Who the hell knows? Not me, that's for sure and a half.

Hey, its all good and it only seems counter-intuitive until you get used to it. (a tip-o-the-hat to the zenbozo)

So get used to it and for crying out loud there sport, let's all try to get along even if things get a little sloppy here and there. Remember: one man gathers what another man spills... Don't let the fucking bastards wear you down (the BEST advice my Dad ever gave me).

So get with the program dude, stop being such a poopy-head and don't forget to always remember to keep the FUN in dysfunctional.

I smell bad and I'm going to take a shower. like I said before, it was a sweaty night.

Sorry Mom, but I need to try and be honest. In the real world (or so we've been told here in the world of mirth and myth), a good acid-test to predict if something you want to say might be a certain kind of funny... is to ask yourself this... "would my Mom grimace dissapprovingly if she heard me say this?"

Hah! I smell bad and I'm going to take a shower. After that its going to be a good year. That's my status.

Word. Peace and out.

PS: I think we're actually off to a splendid start, but everything is still a little bit weird and distorted.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Looking ahead... Despite my lack of new year resolutions and even after taking into account my generally grim prospects for the future...

I have reason to believe that 2010 will be a great year!

Certainly it started out with a BANG... and also with lots of beer and "silly string", but that was all before today's extraordinarily regretable, challenging and absolutely massive hangover.

Wheee!

A good time was had by all at Sharky Bar in Phnom Penh last night as the Sharks hosted "Penhstock", Cambodia's first rock festival.

Lots of fun and a compelling trigger for asking those pesky and profound big-picture questions...

"Why didn't I just quit while I was ahead?

What was I thinking?

You mean she wasn't joking?

Who the hell knows.

Five (5) bands took and shook the Sharky stage during the course of the beery and boisterous evening and the house was jam-packed with enthusiastic revelers, making things rather steamy.

However, despite the provocative body-heat, the eagerly excited crowd was animated, friendly and decidedly out to have a good time (Fucking-A) and bring in the New Year with excpetionally high-spirits, much merriment and ecstatic inebriation (not to mention well-intentioned yet nonetheless irrational exuberance)!

The mythicaldude (dapperly dressed in black) arrived fashionably late at 11:30 PM and missed all the bands except for Lost Highway,

They were really great and his dudeliness particularly enjoyed a bunch of Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes ... and really dug the BIG phat sound of the drums. Right on!

Without a doubt, ( God damn it TM ), the band I play guitar with, had a rolicking good time playing our special brand of raw, nasty sounding and downright unsanitary blues.

By all accounts, and as best I can remember, we were effusively loud, if not downright thrillingly rowdy. definitely there was nothing about us or our performance that was even remotely delicate, subtle or nuanced. That's a good thing, right?

I'm reasonably sure that we had most everyone in attendance completely snookered and fooled into thinking that we actually knew what the hell we were doing! For sure it could have been worse!

After a somewhat abbreviated and only slightly inebriated set we actually jammed a bit with some of the cats from Lost Highway who we found - despite their reputation (just kidding) and ours (no joke) - to be nice friendly guys as well seriously good fun players who like to rock.

In all likelihood we were sloppy, loud and disorganized, but no one seemed to care (or notice) since to varying degrees everyone in the joint was thoroughly drunk, happy and oblivious. Woo hoo!

Ditto to the max for ace-accordianist & slide-guitarist-extraordinaireJimmy.,, that's him in black and white part of the picture on the left)!

Scoddy was nattily attired yet subdued in his sartorial splendor until he began to pound on the industrial-strength big-ass drum-kit with aplomb (or was he just using regular old drumsticks?)

As always, it is mandatory that you check out his Following The Applause Blog for his lounge-lizardly take on what went down.

That's me playing guitar on the right (in living color) ... hunkered down as usual... desperately concentrating on maintaining some semblance of a functional real time connection between my ears, eyes, brain and fingers.

[ It's no picnic being me... I don't like it one little bit, but I've been at this game for so long now that I'm used to it. ]

The Swedish Ambassador is wintering in Europe this holiday season so our good buddy Bass Player Dave from Canada did a great job filling-in on short notice. Dave plays these days with a classy jazzy-wazzy group called Mispent Yooth.

I thoroughly enjoyed conversing and commiserating with Bass Player Dave from Canada after the gig and long after all the guests and other band members were long gone.

Dave and I sat together at the empty bar methodically and fastidiously milking the FREE BEER (his favorite brand) for all it was worth - no sense in letting go to waste, or in letting Al drink it,

Somehow we managed to operate under the radar and went virtually undetected until about 3:00 AM when finally the bar staff got the message across. They had been anxiously killing us softly with their disdainful looks in a mostly feeble attempt to let us know that they wanted to get the hell out of there and that it was time for us to leave.

Until then we were undetered from our clandestine and intoxicating mission, and remained unabasheldy commited to our iron-clad indifference, which was bolstered considerably by the ludicrously drunken conviction that we knew where all the bodies were buried. In retrosepct it seems abundantly clear that I don't (and never did) have the slightest idea what that even means. Clueless? You bet!

Despite our regressive nonsensical gibberish, the Sharky crew outdid themselves with a boisterous well-planned and well-managed party... including a cool private (well maybe semi-private) and only slightly dilapidated backstage area for all the musicians with an icy keg of FREE BEER(my favorite brand too!).

So a great big big tip-O-the-hat is in order to the Sharky dudes for a job well done indeed.

By all means, please check out the Sharky Blog for some of Cali 2 Jim's photos (you've go to love those ladies!) and an illuminating and informative recap of the night's festivities.

.

Grudgingly, El Mythicos Dudicus, has disclosed his frank admission that he "now knows better", and is frighteningly quick to add "but at the time it all seemed like a good idea".

It is understandable after all the glitz, giddy exhileration and profusion of perspiration at the gig... that he was steadfastly unwilling to compromise his enthusiastic neglect of good judegment....

so the mythicaldude set out with outlandish abandon and utter disreagard for any any and all possible consequences... and "did himself in" good and proper. Ouch!

Since the dude started out on the late side and was genuinely and appropriately inspired by the rambunctious party and excellent vibes..

he wound-up staying out literally all night (an increasingly rare occurance at his advanced age).

At roughly 4 AM, I ran into Cali 2 Jim at the

Walkabout*where I think we had the exact same conversation that we had hours earlier at Sharky's.

I enjoyed it both times... that's my story and Í'm sticking to it.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that was all my fault.

{ * }

[ The Walkabout is a Phnom Penh landmark every bit as legendary as the Sharky Bar... a cathedral of decadence.

It is almost universally revered as a local bastion of culture and generally regarded as the pinnacle of late-night elegance, refinement and sophistication. Tee-hee-hee.]

Not long after that the MythMan bumped into none other than The Lost Highway Drummer Guy upstairs there at the Walkabout, where we sat for awhile slurring our words and chewing the fat over yet another beer as we watched to bartender do her homework...

Just what the doctor ordered.

The mythical one also saw many other twisted and familiar faces... all of whom:

definitely ought to be old enough to know better

shall sadly remain forgotten and nameless since...

Mythicaldude's current status is decidedly:

[ Ultra-Deluxe-Hyper-Fuzzy & Spacey ]

Consequently he fails to recall many of the gory details of last night's epically shameful, abberently debilitating, decadent and self-indulgent debauchery. Alas!

Man it was some kind of big fun... while it lasted

So it goes.

Anyhow... it turns out that The Lost Highway Drummer Guy used to live in San Francisco, just like me... and in one of those pleasantly inexplicable turns of conversation we fondly (and rather bizarrely) reminisced about a great guitar player from The City by the Bay named Carlos Guitarlos, who evidently (I found out after diligent investigation on Google) is still out thereand going strong.

I imagine that I must be distracted by the strangely enthralling and wonderfully perverse and misguided thought of heading back to Sharky Bar tonight to jam with Lost Highway and enjoy a toke a few drinks in a typically pathetic and humiliating attempt to adjust the arc of my life's trajectory in order to get back on-track and confidently seize the plethora of opportunities that await me in the coming New Year.

Naturally I accoomplish this feat by creatively causing life to disintegrate in a spectacularly despicable smoky haze of unabashedly flagrant self-abuse and degradation while I wallow in my embrace of the incredible delusion that someday soon I'll somehow rise to theoccassion and, as they say in the song...

"someday everything's gonna be different... when I paint my masterpiece".

What a crock of crap... what a stinking steamy heap of stinky dung you say?

Hey mister... don't burst my bubble, OK?

Don't you have to "go see a guy about a thing"?

For your information I became so engrossed with writing this blog post that I spent too much time and now, sadly, it is much too late for Sharky's.

Rest assured though, dear reader, that I take no small amount of solace and comfort in the certain knowledge that... I can always go back to the Walkabout. Hoo-hah!

It truly is a blessing to live in Phnom Penh.

At any rate the whole crew here at mythicaldude.com wishes you a very happy new year.

We're hoping for the best... and that's a fact!

Please stand by for 2010... that's right, there aren't any seatbelts so you'll just have to deal with it.

Monday, September 15, 2008

The massively currupt (according to many reports) Cambodian government is screwing about 4,000 residents of the Boeung Kak Lake area in Phnom Penh out of their homes, their land and their neighborhood. Read about it here.

Its a really shitty deal and it is not the first time. Many families were forcibly evicted from their homes and dumped in a big mud puddle with no infrastructure about 20km outside of town last year and in Cambodia no one is held accountable for such inhumane atrocities. In truth, it seems to happen all over the country. They call it land grabbing.

As you may know, I consider politicians - just about all of them everywhere - to be the lowest of the low and I don't get involved in politics except for a bit in America where I am a citizen, but this is NOT a political issue, it is an issue of basic human rights and decency. It just so happens that the culprit is the government.

Well you know why governments put criminals in prison? It's because they hate competiton!

Please don't get me wrong. The American government is no better really. The war in Iraq being just the latest assault on humanity and decency waged by greedy, corrupt and untrustworthy politicians from my homeland.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Hey I'm in another band here in Cambodia's capital. We're The Hellhounds and we play old blues, folk, Cajun, Zydeco and other traditional American Music. Funny that two of the three of us are Australian.

There's band-leader Jimmy on accordian and slide guitar (not both at the same time!). Then there's Ken on harmonica and mandolin (not both at the same time!). And finally yours truly on a blue Japanese Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. We all sing a bit, but mostly Jimmy does the honors. I'd sing more, but I can never remember the words.

We've been playing gigs around town - Art Cafe, La Croisette, Pontoon - for about two months now and our sound is finally coming together in a very satisfying way. Coolness abounds.

Lots of gigs this month!

The Hellhounds are making a devilish noise at the following venues this month in Phnom Penh, Cambodia:

Sunday Sept.14th - 5:00pm at La Croisette - on the riverfront at the corner of Street 136.

Hey now. I gotta tell somebody – it fills you up. Its fills you up. It fills you up now child.

I went out to Sharky’s last night, met a few old friends and made some new ones.

Now its just one of those feelin’ groovy days on a Sunday morning when you wake up at the break of day and the sun is shining and you’re sparkling bright and perky. Honey, you can do no wrong.

Maybe you woke up in your new lover’s arms… right-on, right-on, right-on, right-on.

It’s in the way you walk and talk. There’s a rainbow in your soul. The light is shining through your fingertips, blue steam is blowing out of your ears and you know that if all else fails that you’ll never have a “bad hair day” because (if you’re like me) you’re bald and keep what little hair you have short & sweet. Hah!

You got to help me baby, I can’t do it all by myself. I wanna get me some lovin’. And I want to thank you for letting me be myself again!

I just want to tell it like it is. Lay my cards down on the table, toss the dice and spin that wheel. Who’s your daddy? And besides you just know that baby needs a new pair of shoes. Bon ton roulette… let the good times roll.

All the dark clouds have passed on by and it’s clear sailing even if you don’t know where the hell you’re heading. You gots the glide in your stride and the pep in your step and the bluebirds singing in your smile……. Hoo-hawwwww. That’s what I said.

This must be what it’s all about. Can you feel me? Ain’t that lovin’ you baby?

MORE ABOUT CLOGGERS SUMMIT 2007

I was kind of sick and didn’t socialize as much as I would have liked. When you’re shooting pictures you’re not very social anyhow because you’re an empty-headed receptacle for images and you just have to be right there at that magic moment. I’m not all that social these days anyhow. Not anti-social, just asocial and passive. But If I hadn’t been focused on taking pictures all the time I would like to have met and spoken with more of the people than I did. I’m sure we’ll all be in touch online.

Despite being kind of sick and tired, I had a great time at the Cloggers Summit. My presentation was very well received by the Cloggers (Cambodian bloggers) in attendance and I dig it when I get some generous and genuine applause.

And not only that, but when I was running a slide show of some of my own favorite blog photos during the ten minute Q&A after my talk and the time was up, some sweet guy (Mean Lux) stood up and asked if we could keep the show running during the break because, he said, my photos were so beautiful. Can’t hardly get any better than that, but it did.

People came up to me with more questions as I left the podium; journalists from AP and local press, ex-pats who have lived here since the 90’s, young smart college kids with sparkles in their eyes... Man that was so cool.

At the moment I'm having problems uploading photos to Flickr, but I will try again tomorrow so please check back then for the link. Well I managed to et a few up there, but check again tomorrow becasue there are tons more... Clogger Summit 2007 Photos on Flickr.

Check out more coverage of this incredibly enrgizing and inspiring event at these quality blogs:

Nothin’ really. Not much. It’s all good… except for the bad stuff and you know that just comes and goes.Today I’m working on photo projects, as usual, and probably gonna head out before sunset with my camera to make some new pictures in that magic golden light.

You really should come and visit Cambodia. Sure it’s a fucked-up place in this fucked-up world, but baby they got it going on here and that’s no lie. They’re building stuff like crazy and making babies day and night.

Its cheap, sunny and all you need to bring with you is a smile. If you somehow forget your smile, don’t worry. You can pick one up here for FREE just about anywhere all the time… and then you’ll have a rainbow in your soul.

Hey now. I just gots to tell somebody – it fills you up. Its fills you up. It fills you up now child.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I’ve never been a pixel-pushing Photoshop jockey, but I’ve been learning more and more about Adobe’s flagship product as I focus on being a professional photographer.

Aside from the fairly straightforward things I use Photoshop for, like managing color balance and other global tweaks to make my pictures look as good as possible, I’ve recently been exploring some of Photoshop’s many special effects goodies and gizmos.

I think it’s a really cool effect and thought you might dig it as well.

ALBERTO

My buddy Alberto, the cultural anthropologist from Arizona State University who for years has been studying the Cham people (Cambodian Muslims) is coming back to town this week for an extended stay after being back in America for the past two years. He’s a great guy and I’m excited that he’ll be here to hang out with.

Welcome home Alberto!

BUSINESS

I am once again looking into buying a business here in the Kingdom of Cambodia and have been busy doing my due diligence to scope it out and figure out if it’s right for me.

I want to keep the details confidential at this early stage, but of course I will give you an update as my discussions and research continue. Could be interesting!

PHOTOGRAPHY

I have also been very busy reorganizing my extensive photo archives and working on some new themes and projects.

I’m pleased with the series of B&W work I did earlier this year shooting in Phnom Penh’s alleys – where tourists fear to tread and even local foreigners seldom go.

I also remain fascinated with my ongoing photo explorations of people’s hands.

As you probably know my specialty and main interest is in portraiture and I see my hand work as a logical extension of my investigations of people’s faces. Hands, like faces, tell a story, have personality and they’re all unique… for me they hold a great deal of deep visual interest.

I’ve also been hard at work fleshing out content and solidifying my photographer’s portfolio for a new website at www.stevegoodman.com that will be my main sales and marketing vehicle for Steve Goodman Photography.

I expect to have it up and running sometime in late September, so stay-tuned…

OTHER STUFF

I’m still playing in a hot funk band with my old buddies Davis and Jimmy. We practice each Saturday afternoon and the lineup now includes two guitars, harmonica, drums, bass and sax.

We should have some gigs lined-up in September and October and that’s gonna be tons of fun!

Monday, August 20, 2007

Well its another sunny Monday morning here and I'm trying to get my ass in gear to get out there and do some new photography. Been kind of lazy the past month or so about that. Sitting here eating burgers for breakfast - from Lucky Burger on Monivong Boulevard near the Internet joint I often work from. They're not little guys like at White Castle, but the do have that slider-iffic taste. Yummmy.

For my money the best burgers is in town are at Sharky Bar and at The Alley Cat Cafe right around the corner from my apartment, but these Lucky Burgers are pretty damn tasty for cheap fast food.

Not being totally lazy in all respects though... actually I have been working my ass off on organizing my photo archives, building a new www.SteveGoodman.com site to promote myself as professional photographer, and working hard on a variety of projects.

Haven't been going out much at all, but I'm planning on making the rounds this week.

Haven't been to see my buddy Jim at the California 2 Hotel on the rivefront in ages. Yo Jim! See you in a day or two.

I've also been slowly working on some new sets of prints and the B&W stuff came out just great. Should be doing some color stuff from the past six months later this week.

I see this guy riding ALL over town. Pretty cool, eh. Makes his living selling tasty baked goods.

The sign on his hand-peddled groovy go-cart. Life IS struggle, its true!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Another typical week here filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. Still playing catch-up on processing new photos, working on some cool new projects and fighting off the urge to be lazy and decadent.

I was sick a bit (tummy problems), my eye problems related to my thyroid disease (Graves Disease) have been troublesome, but on the other hand I'm having a great time learning new songs with the band I play guitar in and finding satisfaction in making a few new friends and climbing out of the rut I've been in... only (this should go without saying) to stumble into a new rut from which I'll struggle with eventually.

Frankly I was depressed, forlorn and wthdrawn for a while there, but with some help from friends I'm getting back to feeling better, excited and isnpired. Such is life. Look for lots of new photos and sets here and on Fickr in the coming week or two.

Why was I depressed? Why not? My Dad's death , health problems with family and friends, the general state of the world we live in, etc and like that. Nevermind and please don't you worry about a thing. Every little ting is gona be allright!

I'm Steve Goodman the mythicaldude damn it and I ALWAYS rise the the occassion (eventually) and get the job done! You'll see... positive vibrations emanating... dig it!